Ask and Ye Shall Receive

...as many of you have said it’s absolutely vital for the Democrats to get out in front of this issue. They need to propose some supplemental spending [for Iraq] before Bush pulls it out of his back pocket when it’s “almost too late.”

Today in CQ Daily:

John M. Spratt Jr. of South Carolina, a senior Democrat on the panel, said he has heard reports from Iraq that commanders could run out of money by summer’s end.

Another Armed Services Democrat, Jim Cooper of Tennessee, introduced a supplemental bill that would provide $50 billion in fiscal 2005 to fund military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The bill’s prospects are uncertain, however, because it has been the established practice of Congress not to fund large supplementals without a presidential request.

Later, same article:

Critics of the administration’s plan to wait until next year to request more money for operations in Iraq were buoyed in February when three of the four military chiefs acknowledged they were worried about running out of money before Sept. 30.

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld dismissed those concerns at the time, arguing that money could easily be borrowed from the regular defense budget until a supplemental was enacted.

Is there any explanation for why they would borrow the money aside from the election - any at all?